As a foundation upon which new medicinal agents can be constructed, it is important to uncover simple, yet powerful methods for the synthesis of core organic functionalities, as well as methods that allow the core structures to be easily substituted with a wide variety of substituents. It is in support of health sciences in general that the chemistry proposed within finds its significance. Because of the unique ability of transition metal species to effect the formation of carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds under very mild conditions, emphasis in this proposal is placed on the use of organotransition metal chemistry to facilitate a variety of transformations. An underlying theme of the proposed chemistry is the development of flexible new synthetic methods that will facilitate the structure-activity-relationship studies that lead to the discovery of new medicinal agents.